Orientation Week
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day nine hundred and fifty-seven: With the new members in the club, Rachel feels responsible to make sure they adjust.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 45th cycle. Now cycle 46!_

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_**INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - **If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!  
Go to: gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet_

_(cycle 46 cheat sheet will be up later)_

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**"Orientation Week"  
Rachel/Puck - Lizzie, Ellie, Elliot, Gus, Craig  
Project No Day But Today series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_**

It was easy to see how the atmosphere in the choir room would change, going from their dozen to sixteen as they welcomed the four new additions. Will had welcomed Gus, Elliot, and the two Elizabeths as they had walked in the door, the whole club had. Still they couldn't ignore a bit of 'us and them' separation between the twelve who had been part of New Directions all this time and the four who were still learning the ropes.

Rachel felt responsible for them. They were part of her cast, she had been leading them along the way and to some extent had opened the way for them to even get to this point and into Glee Club. Now she wanted to make sure they would be okay, that they would adjust well.

"You're not going to hold their hands, are you?" he asked as they stood by her locker and she went through it.

"What? No, of course not, why w…"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you can come off a bit imposing, and they could scare away." She frowned, but he just shrugged. "The musical is one thing, but Glee Club… You're excited that they're here, I can tell," he leaned in to look into her eyes, which made her smile. "Just don't want you to get ahead of yourself," he explained.

"I'll be good," she promised.

"You'll be better," he adjusted and got a kiss for it. She paused then, hesitated.

"I need you to do something."

Rather than addressing them one by one, she had summoned them into the choir room before Glee practice. She greeted them all with a smile and an invitation to take a seat. She began to see a bit of what Puck had told her. The four of them, sitting there, looked like they'd been called into the principal's office. She took a chair then, sitting herself before them as casually as she could.

"So, guys, you've been in Glee Club now for almost a week," she started, smiling. "How's it going so far?" Ellie and Elliot both looked like they would have expected this more from Mr. Schuester, their director here, while Gus was a bit at a loss for words. Lizzie looked to all of them and appeared to decide she might as well speak.

"Well, we were wondering, I think… not that we talk behind anyone's back, but… Are we going to get to sing, you know, solo, or…"

"There will be assignments," Rachel started, cautious despite herself, "And you can prepare things to present, but you should probably talk to Mr. Schuester about that. We do have competitions, three a year if we win our way through Nationals, and we do certain events, like prom… So it'll all depend how that goes…" She paused, hearing in her head how they would hear from others how the solo distribution was… uneven, and she couldn't pretend that they wouldn't have to deal with some of that, but did she want to drop that on them now or… She didn't want to lie, but she also wanted them to enjoy being there… "You'll find your way," she finally nodded. "A-anything else?"

"Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I know you guys make your competition costumes," Gus started, and Rachel nodded. "I… I can sew," he revealed like he expected immediate repercussions.

"Excellent, good, we can always use another pair of skilled hands," Rachel smiled.

"My grandmother was a seamstress," he felt he had to explain further.

"Okay," Rachel went on nodding. "Listen, don't be shy about jumping in. We all know each other already, remember?" she smiled encouragingly. This had been the primary problem in removing the separation from group to group. "We're all really glad you're here."

Puck had been exempted from this gathering, with Rachel's task to accomplish. He wasn't sure how the whole thing would go over, but he would give it a shot… He needed to.

He found Craig in the midst of undoing the chain on his bike, which was presently hanging from under the bleachers on the football field. Puck stepped up to go and meet him. "Hey." He startled, then calmed when he realized it was him. "How'd that happen?"

"Take a guess," he frowned. "I can't undo it from under, and as soon as I undo it up here it'll fall."

"I'll go down there and hold the bike while you undo it," he got back up.

"Y… you don't have to," Craig insisted.

"It's cool," Puck promised, already dashing down and under the bleachers. He held out his arms and caught on to the wheel. "Okay, go."

"It'll fall on you," Craig warned.

"I got it," Puck insisted. So Craig undid the chain. Puck was quick to catch the bike, and he set it down, no breaks. Craig came down to retrieve it.

"Thanks," he bowed his head.

"You're welcome," Puck replied, then after a pause, "Need to talk to you about Glee Club." Craig clammed up instantly.

"Did Gus put you up to this?"

"No, Rachel did. Though she did hear some of this because of him," Puck revealed.

"I can't," Craig looked down.

'It's not because of me, is it?" Puck had to ask.

"No, it's not you," he promised. "You've been… great… all things considered," he tilted his head to look at him, his former dumpster tosser. Puck nodded as though to say 'fair enough.'

"But you want to be in Glee Club, don't you?" Puck asked him. Craig hesitated to answer, but Puck could see the answer on his face. "Come on, then just do it. Forget everybody else and join if that's what you want."

"It's not that simple."

"Sure it is," Puck nodded. "You want it, you do it. Doesn't work all the time, and I've got the juvenile record to prove it, but with this…"

"A dangling bike is nothing at this point," Craig shook his head.

"I'll look out for you," Puck promised. "Whatever it is, I'll try and make it stop. You can try, too." Craig reflected on all this. "You go in there like, hey, I'm going in Glee, you got a problem with that?"

"And I get kicked in the a…"

"Let them try," Puck refused this, then, "You know what I mean." He almost had him. What was it they always said? "Come on, live a little."

Rachel had spoken to her four until the others were starting to arrive for practice and they had dismissed the mini gathering, though this hadn't gone without a few 'playful' digs at her, though nothing that would be remembered even two minutes later. As more of them came and Mr. Schuester arrived, Rachel did look for Puck more and more. She wasn't sure how her assignment to him would have gone, but…

They had been made to look up at the sound of a bike being rolled along, and there they found that was exactly what it was, rolled by Craig as he followed Puck in. The bike was left against the wall, while there were a couple of excited gasps in the four down in front.

"Mr. Schue, got room for one more?" Puck asked, as Craig stalled behind him.

"Always."

When he would go sit with the others, Craig would get clapped on the shoulder by Gus. When he would go sit, Puck would find his hand grasped by Rachel.

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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